My pet peeve these days is seeing pictures of a smiling, self-indulgent Barack Obama enjoying himself on a surf board in Hawaii in the company of billionaire Sir Richard Branson or on the deck of a ‘super yacht’ while we poor peons are suffering under his weak legacy of too little too late.

Why did this poor excuse for a president who promised us “hope and change” wait until the last days of his hopeless presidency to sign “executive orders” rather than four years earlier when they would have been embedded in the public’s consciousness and more difficult for the intruder now in the White House to rescind?

Trump has rescinded virtually every one of Obama’s last stab ‘executive orders’ and what do we see as Obama’s reaction but his smug, smiling face on a ‘super yacht’ with his billionaire friends. He didn’t earn that vacation.

How insensitive he truly is. Let us not forget he helped to build Hillary’s false assumption that she would be the next president and he saw to it that Debbie Wasserman Schultz (a Clinton acolyte) was positioned as National Chair of the Democratic National Committee to funnel funds to the Clinton campaign to the detriment of the more viable Sanders candidacy.

23 thoughts on “My Current Pet Peeve”

Obviously, both; but, his worst failure was abandoning the philosophical principles of his youth in order to follow lockstep on the corporatist road to personal “success” paved by Bill Clinton. The damage done to the once-mighty Democratic Party and to the nation, in the form of rising populist angst and disillusionment, will be profound and long-lasting. And, the damage will be even costlier as the demise of credible American leadership, democracy, the rule of law, and the last remnants of institutional ethics, will gravely afflict the entire world for generations to come.

I think of the appointments Obama made in 2009, the usual suspects of the establishment. He simply didn’t have strong progressive convictions. He acted as if he’d barely won the presidency, with no mandate whatsoever. Contrast that with Trump, who really did win with no mandate, but who acts with conviction if not with courage.

Who was the last Democratic President with spine? LBJ? A deeply flawed man, but he had guts.

Bill.. I wouldn’t shower Trump with words like “courage and conviction”. This is a man conflicted with a psychopathology that sees the world only in terms of his own interests.He is driven to act impulsively to always enhance his personal interests which requires no courage and only self gratification not any conviction.. .

traven: I think Trump has certain convictions, not admirable ones, that he acts on. Like doing what’s best for Trump. Courage? As I said, no. After going to a military high school, he found a way to dodge the Vietnam draft. Four deferments for college (legal), one for heel spurs (very dubious for a man who brags about being in perfect health).

I hadn’t seen this particular photo of Obama and Branson engaged in a mock fight. But I will posit that a prime reason for Trump’s election win is that many white Americans would like to substitute themselves for Branson, but it wouldn’t be a mock affair! The racist extremist element in US society NEVER accepted that an actual black man (in contrast to Bill Clinton, whom some foolishly called “the first black president”–apparently because he occasionally doodled on saxophone!) had attained the presidency. This element was attracted by Trump’s own racist rhetoric in his campaign, and that’s all they needed to hear to sign on. Whatever semi-coherent “policy positions” on economic policy, foreign policy or other concerns Team Trump managed to concoct didn’t matter to this crowd. Combine this element with Hillary’s utterly unappealing candidacy and you have the current situation. I feel very strongly that racism decided the 2016 election and will maintain that belief until someone proves me wrong.

In my view, Obama only had two somewhat “shining moments.” The first was during his 2008 campaign, being the speech on race in America. The second was his strong stance in favor of sane gun laws in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut Massacre. He spoke out on this issue after several other mass shooting incidents, as well, but of course the NRA saw to it that nothing would change. Otherwise, I found Obama to be pretty much spineless all around. Of course it is true that the Republicans in Congress put up a roadblock to any progressive change in US policies. But it is likewise true, in my opinion, that Obama failed to rise to the occasion to combat them rhetorically with fire in his belly. And now the current occupant of the White House publicly trashes any policies or regulations associated with Obama’s terms in office. Reap what ye have sown, Casper Milquetoast. Enjoy your time on those yachts. Your “legacy” is already in the crapper.

Walter .. Good to hear from u again. When you get to be 93, like me, you can call yourself an “old man”. Until then you’re just another kid on the block.
It does seem as though our politicians, whether Republican or Democrat , consider themselves as ‘royalty’ once elected to office amd look down on s ordinary proles..

If you have access to the Wall Street Journal, please read Peggy Noonan’s last. Too many demonize Steve Bannon, yet, as Noonan quotes him on our current state of elitistist capitalism, he nails it. Branson/Obama, play on.

The destruction of Libya setting up a terrorist haven and weapons depot for the dirty war on Syria, which is heinous and despicable.
The use and support of the most vile terrorist mercenaries to destroy Syria.

The drawing out of the Afghanistan occupation and the continued destruction of Iraq.

The unmitigated support for the criminal activities of the Israel and Saudi governments, which leaves the Palestinian situation ever more hopeless and dire and is causing the destruction of Yemen with widespread starvation.

The expansion of extrajudicial drone killings that kill many more than the supposed intended targets and terrorize children.

The blatant coup in Ukraine, putting in power neo-Nazi thugs and destabilizing Russia’s borders.
The blatant lies about the Crimean situation.

Without even touching upon domestic failure with a capital F, which includes leaving the Constitution in tatters and economic prospects for the vast majority gloomy, I think it’s safe to say that Obama, that sonofabitch, should be in prison.

It’s really immaterial what sort of person Obama was before his presidency, what he thought was important and so on. My personal speculation is that he was a con-man from the get go.

In my heaping (?) of very faint praise on Obama’s terms in office, I now realize I neglected to credit him with doing more than any predecessor in expansion and defense of civil rights for “Queers.” This is indisputable, and I applaud him for it. (Doubtless Team Trump will undo all they can of this.) But as for the rumors floated by ne-plus-ultra-right about certain activities at the White House–I won’t spell it out lest my fingers become soiled by my keyboard–they are as credible, I’m sure, as Hillary running a kiddie-porn operation out of a Washington DC pizza parlor. God only knows how many millions of Americans believed that one, which does not bode well for the nation’s future.

My wife comes from a conservative Chinese background where grown men do not grope each other in public while only partially clothed. Different strokes for different blokes, I guess. I wonder who snapped that picture? Taxpayer-funded secret service attendees? Talk about rubbing salt in an open wound. What kind of a man would take a “job” like that? I guess times have gotten even tougher than I imagined.

Another seldom-acknowledged accomplishment for President Obama, Greg: more men now report getting raped in the U.S. military than women. Hoorah! That could possibly have something to do with all those repeated deployments our soldiers and Marines had to spend (for eight years) guarding heroin-producing Poppy fields for boy-buggering Afghan warlords (or, “stalwart allies,” as President Obama liked to call them). “Stalwart?” Who in the hell uses effete language like that anymore? I mean, if the American commander-in-brief and his genius generals love these murderous, drug-running pederasts so much, why shouldn’t our gay grunts love each other, too, even if only one party to the “romance” takes part in it willingly? You want to know why an average of 20 or so veterans commit suicide every day? I could give you a few hints. But thanks, anyway, President Obama. President Donald Trump will take over now.

I remember going through counter-insurgency school at Coronado Island near San Diego before my deployment to Vietnam in the summer of 1970. Our instructors tried to familiarize us American guys with certain aspects of Vietnamese culture that we might find off-putting, to say the least. It seems that young Vietnamese men often hold hands while out walking in public. When we indoctrinated (i.e., brainwashed) sailors finally got to Saigon, one of my shipmates, a married native American from Bakersfield, California, would catch a glimpse of this sort of thing and sarcastically call out to the male Vietnamese couple: “Hello, girls.” Culture shock.

Then, too, the upper class Vietnamese boys who somehow didn’t have to serve in their own military liked to grow extremely long fingernails on the little finger of their right hand. Like the Chinese Mandarins before them, this signified to the world that they did no manual labor which might have gotten their little hands dirty or fingernails broken off. Needless to say, the sight of this sort of thing did not fill us American guys with an overwhelming desire to fight for them when they didn’t seem especially interested in doing that for themselves. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to die for their own corrupt puppet President or for President Richard Nixon and his Svengali Henry Kissinger. I didn’t want to die for those slimy bastards, either. Still, having to watch these queer looking little pansies strut around looking so pleased with themselves kind of rubbed something raw inside us working-class Americans. I feel the same way about all those Saudi Arabian “royal” princes today. I remember several years ago seeing a picture of President Obama bowing to one of them. A “king,” or something. President Trump seems inclined towards the same kind of servile ass-kissing around really big money; but so far, at least, he has managed to keep his shirt and pants on while smooching those hirsute semitic hindquarters, both Arab and Hebrew. Like Obama, he even does it with a smile.

Anyway, I have nothing personal against “consensual” adult homosexuality (in or out of uniform), and if former President Obama wants to regard the casual acceptance of that as his “legacy,” then fine. However, if he can’t do any better for the common working man and woman, which he hasn’t, then I suspect that history will adopt Professor Cornell West’s description of him: “The Black Mascot of Wall Street.” Seems about right to me. Fits with the picture, too.

Mike–1.) I have not seen any claims about increased male-on-male rape in US military. What is certainly undeniable is Obama’s continuation of Cheney/Bush’s brilliant, gloriously successful occupation of Afghanistan, for which I criticized #44 from day one; 2.) yes, male Vietnamese friends hold hands, and this is also a custom among Palestinians. Male Russkie friends kiss one another on the mouth. Of what did Jesus’s “holy kiss” consist? Ah, that’s still under debate. At any rate, I find these traditional practices preferable to what passes for “culture” in the USA! (NASCAR racing?); 3.) there’s talk that, as part of his “America First” foolishness, The Donald doesn’t plan to condescend to do much overseas travel. But man, Mike Pence is already a real globetrotter! Bible-thumping hypocrites, a leading US export these days!; 4.) I will predict right now that if Trump and wife ever meet Saudi royalty face to face, the latter will snub Ivanka just as they snubbed Michelle Obama. The Saudis will continue to have the upper hand until their wretched kingdom runs out of that “black stuff bubbling up from under the ground,” to quote the “Beverly Hillbillies” theme song. Traditions die hard, and the worse those traditions are, the more so.

As of today (24 April) Mr. Obama is back from his play dates with (some of) the rich and famous. Per CNN, he is not likely to trash-talk the current occupant of the Oval Office. Says his mission in life now is to help raise the next generation of “leadership” for our nation. Just what we need: a new generation of willing servants to Big Business and the Pentagon. Thanks, but no thanks, Barack. Why don’t you head out to sea again at your first opportunity? Please.

Yes, Greg. I hear that “The Black Mascot of Wall Street” (as Professor Cornell West calls him) has just accepted a $400,000 speaking fee from Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street investment bank. That, along with a $60 million advance on two books by himself and his wife Michelle for Penguin Random House. Wow. That comes to $30 million apiece. And to think that Bawl and Pillory only got $8 million each for books that they hadn’t written when they left the White House. And official government statistics tell us that inflation no longer exists in America — at least when it comes to Social Security cost of living adjustments. Why, I got $4 more a month this past year. That makes $48 per year. No inflation for me.

Sir Richard Branson had better watch out or he’ll find himself wrestling unclad with Obama on Obama’s yacht instead of his own. Talk about cashing in quick.

Mike–Yes, I commented earlier today (it’s still 26 April where I am currently typing this) on Facebook about Obama’s speaking engagement. And the topic is healthcare! For me, this seals the deal on my speculation that Obama’s candidacy was sponsored primarily by the healthcare insurance industry. Thus we were saddled with “Obamacare,” a scheme to force consumers to pay for private health coverage versus the DREADED (“Socialism! Communism!!”) concept of a national health service. Also in the news right now are reports that the “Freedom Caucus” GOPers in Congress have changed their minds and will now play ball with Team Trump to plunge a knife into “Obamacare” once and for all, after the fiasco of the first effort to repeal it. To be replaced by what? Oh, Fearless Leader will figure that out some other day! Right now he must be packing for the next jaunt to Mar-a-Lago…though there are also reports he’ll condescend to soon pay the lucky citizens of New York City a visit.

Many thanks for your work for peace and justice after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. State Department, two branches of the American government which have little, if anything, to do with either. Quite the antithesis, actually.

I made a copy of your resignation letter from the State Department and I keep it for handy reference. So much of what you had to say resonates with my own service in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Very well written.

Recently, I came across two radio interviews that you gave with Scott Horton, the links to which I found on the antiwar.com website:

Excellent observations by both yourself and Scott Horton. As you know, very few Americans living within the U.S. Corporate/Military information blackout — sometimes called the “mainstream media” — ever get to hear of life under brutal foreign occupation such as the Afghans and Palestinians have to endure. But I think the word has begun to leak out, anyway, as you can tell from this recent You-tube comedy segment after the Obama Administration — atypically — abstained from vetoing a UN Security Council vote condemning the obvious apartheid regime in Occupied Palestine: